There have been quite a few instances when two batsmen from the same side score tons in an ODI but their team fails to win the match

In the 4th ODI between India and Australia, Indian batsmen Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan scored centuries. Unfortunately, the twin hundreds by the two batsmen were not able to win the match for them. It was hard to believe that India went on to lose the game despite centuries from these two players.

Sachin, and now Rohit are quite infamous for their centuries ending on sad notes. However, Shikar Dhawan and Virat Kohli have been quite successful in tilting the balance of match in the favour of their team when they cross the triple figures.

Shikhar Dhawan had scored 8 tons before this one, and not a single among them failed him and his team. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, has scored 25 hundreds now and it was only his 4th hundred which could not win the game for his team.

Interestingly, three of his four centuries which ended on dismal note have come in January, and all the three matches either took place in Australia or New Zealand. His two hundreds while chasing have come on 19th and 20th day of the month, while other two when India batted first, came on 16th and 17th day of the month. Both of his hundreds in losing cause had exactly 11 boundaries.

So when two players, who when score individual centuries, see their team winning more often than not, fail to end on the victorious side despite making hundreds in the same innings is indeed hard to believe. This somehow reminds us of the match in Sydney between Australia and India where Yuvraj and Laxman scored centuries and yet could not win the game for their side.

What generally happens is that the team winning does not make a single century and yet the two centuries from the opposition go in vain. This happens because the whole team contributes to the winning effort while the losing sides on most occasions fall apart after the two centurions depart. This was what we witnessed yesterday.

Let us now see how often two batsmen from the same team have scored centuries in the same ODI and yet were not able to win the match for their team. It took more than 11 years from the time first ODI was played to witness such an incident.

For the first time, it happened in a match between the traditional rivals i.e. Pakistan and India. Since then, it happened only 23 times including the hundreds of Dhawan and Kohli.

Batsmen

Runs

Balls

Strike Rate

Against Team

Ground

Date

1

Zaheer Abbas (Pak)

105

82

128.04

India

Lahore

31-Dec-82

Javed Miandad (Pak)

119*

77

154.54

2

GR Marsh (Aus)

104

139

74.82

India

Jaipur

7-Sep-86

DC Boon (Aus)

111

118

94.06

3

RJ Shastri (India)

109

149

73.15

South Africa

New Delhi

14-Nov-91

SV Manjrekar (India)

105

82

128.04

4

M Azharuddin (India)

111*

117

94.87

Sri Lanka

Colombo (RPS)

17-Aug-97

A Jadeja (India)

119

121

98.34

5

Saeed Anwar (Pak)

140

132

106.06

India

Dhaka

18-Jan-98

Ijaz Ahmed (Pak)

117

112

104.46

6

Ijaz Ahmed (Pak)

111

109

101.83

Australia

Lahore

10-Nov-98

Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)

100

111

90.09

7

G Kirsten (SA)

115

123

93.49

India

Kochi

9-Mar-00

HH Gibbs (SA)

111

127

87.4

8

SC Ganguly (India)

127

126

100.79

South Africa

Johannesburg

5-Oct-01

SR Tendulkar (India)

101

129

78.29

9

ME Trescothick (Eng)

109

100

109

India

Lord's

13-Jul-02

N Hussain (Eng)

115

128

89.84

10

VVS Laxman (India)

106*

130

81.53

Australia

Sydney

22-Jan-04

Yuvraj Singh (India)

139

122

113.93

11

SV Carlisle (Zim)

109

128

85.15

India

Adelaide

24-Jan-04

SM Ervine (Zim)

100

100

100

12

AJ Strauss (Eng)

100

116

86.2

West Indies

Lord's

6-Jul-04

A Flintoff (Eng)

123

104

118.26

13

G Gambhir (India)

103

97

106.18

Sri Lanka

Ahmedabad

6-Nov-05

R Dravid (India)

103*

120

85.83

14

CH Gayle (WI)

101

128

78.9

England

Ahmedabad

28-Oct-06

DJ Bravo (WI)

112*

124

90.32

15

WTS Porterfield (Ire)

104*

129

80.62

Kenya

Nairobi (Ruaraka)

2-Feb-07

KJ O'Brien (Ire)

142

125

113.6

16

GM Hamilton (Scot)

119

152

78.28

Canada

Aberdeen

7-Jul-09

DF Watts (Scot)

101

108

93.51

17

LRPL Taylor (NZ)

119

126

94.44

Zimbabwe

Bulawayo

25-Oct-11

KS Williamson (NZ)

100*

69

144.92

18

GC Smith (SA)

125

143

87.41

Sri Lanka

Johannesburg

22-Jan-12

AB de Villiers (SA)

125*

98

127.55

19

TM Dilshan (SL)

160*

165

96.96

India

Hobart

28-Feb-12

KC Sangakkara (SL)

105

87

120.68

20

DA Warner (Aus)

100

140

71.42

Sri Lanka

Adelaide

6-Mar-12

MJ Clarke (Aus)

117

91

128.57

21

Mohammad Hafeez (Pak)

105

113

92.92

India

Dhaka

18-Mar-12

Nasir Jamshed (Pak)

112

104

107.69

22

SR Watson (Aus)

102

94

108.51

India

Nagpur

30-Oct-13

GJ Bailey (Aus)

156

114

136.84

23

S Dhawan (India)

126

113

111.5

Australia

Canberra

20-Jan-16

V Kohli (India)

106

92

115.21

- Before 2000, there were only 5 such instances. Since 2000, there have been 18 such occasions.

- The last such incident also came in an Aus-India match; It was played in 2013 at Nagpur when centuries from Watson and Bailey went in vain.

- First 7 occurrences were on Asian grounds and then next 5 were out of Asia.

- The first 5 instances had India either on the receiving end or on the winning side.

- 15 Times India has been involved in such happenings with 6 on the losing side and 9 on the winning side.

- 3 Times Australia have won such a game and lost it 3 times.

- Pakistan has never won a game when two batsmen make centuries against them. They have lost it on four occasions though despite two of their batsmen scoring centuries.

- 2 times this has happened at the grounds of each of these; Adelaide, Lahore, Dhaka and Ahmedabad, which is the joint-most.

- 4 times it happened in 2012 which is the most for a single calendar year.

- Twice it has happened two times in a single series - both times it was a triangular series in Australia, and it involved India. (VB Series 2004, Commonwealth Bank Series 2012)